Day 1: Production Review Guatemala 2019

I arrived uneventfully after a 17 hr travel day to the Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City and managed to pick up my rental car and get to the factory by 1 am. Was greeted by Mark Richard (director of Beeline Wheelchairs), Micah (Beeline administrator) and a visiting nurse around 7 am at the factory and we had a nice breakfast of eggs, beans and cantaloupe. I then had a chance to meet up with Pedro who is our new standing frame carpenter. We spent the morning reviewing his suggestions about the design, production and distribution, then we did a little practice together working out how to most efficiently make the backboards. We headed to lunch in San Lucas about 10 mins down the road from the factory and had a chance to relax and get some pizza. After lunch we set about making a new set of jigs which will improve the efficiency of standing frame production. So far we have begun the most complex jig which connects the legs of the stander to the backboard. This jig is very large and must be very precise so that the stander is not wobbly while the child uses it.